StartupFailures.com

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From: Rohit Khare (rohit@uci.edu)
Date: Wed May 17 2000 - 18:50:02 PDT


You're probably aware of the statistics:

* Only six of every one-thousand business plans receive venture funding.
* Of the companies that receive funding, sixty percent go bankrupt.
* Forty percent of businesses fail within the first five years
of operation.

Those numbers are daunting, but they don't stop us from taking the
entrepreneurial challenge every year. There are a tremendous amount
of resources and information available to help us succeed; however,
the vast majority of startups still fail.

Startupfailures.com is the first community focused on supporting
individuals that have recently gone through or are going through the
experience of a startup failure. Our purpose is to take the stigma
out of failing and help you recover quickly from the failure and get
back in action.

If you are interested in becoming a sponsor of this community, please
send an e-mail to sponsorship@startupfailures.com

Message from the Founder, Nicholas Hall May 13, 2000

We launched this community web site on May 8th and the response has
been amazing! What started as an idea eight weeks ago has
flourished.

We are working vigorously to add more practical information and
resources to help you bounce back. Your failure feedback is
extremely helpful and your voice on the discussion boards is
beneficial to all.

Please join the mailing list so that we can send you updates when we
add new information and resources to the community. Thank you for
your support and I welcome your continued feedback.

 
Startupfailures.com was founded by Nicholas Hall, the author of The
Future Scrapbook: Having the Design of Your Life. Nicholas has
bounced back from three startup failures in the financial services,
beverage and Internet industries. He is also President of the Silicon
Valley Association of Software Entrepreneurs. In 1998, he was the
youngest recipient of the Cincinnati Business Courier's Top 40 Under
the Age of 40 award for outstanding leadership. He has been an active
leader with the Ohio Society of CPAs, and in 1997 was one of the
youngest participants in the national CPA vision project. He lives in
the San Francisco Bay area with his wife, Jennifer.

Nick would appreciate any communication by sending an e-mail to
nick@startupfailures.com or by telephone at 510-582-9989.

=========================================================
SALON magazine quoth:
http://www.salon.com/tech/log/2000/05/09/startupfailure/index.html

Failing is fun!

Did your start-up go bankrupt? Are you out of a job? A new Web site
will help you network with other dot-com failures.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Andy Dehnart

May 9, 2000 | Anyone who's worked at a start-up knows that the stock
market's fluctuations are nothing compared to the roller coaster of
dot-com daily life: changes in direction, leadership turnovers,
budget woes and IPOs make for a tumultuous ride.

So where do you go when your venture capital runs out and the
refrigerator that once dispensed free soda is repossessed?

The creator of startupfailures.com hopes you'll head to his Web site.
Identified as "A Place for Bouncing Back," the site identifies itself
as "[T]he first community focused on supporting individuals that have
recently gone through the experience of a start-up failure." Pointing
to some dreary statistics ("Of the companies that receive funding, 60
percent go bankrupt."), it says, "The vast majority of start-ups will
fail." And all those people need a home.

At another start-up, of course.

After being involved in three start-ups that failed (two of which he
founded), Nick Hall, the president of the Silicon Valley Association
of Software Entrepreneurs, conceived the idea for a Web site for
those bulldozed by dot-com mania.

The site, which will be promoted through "primarily grass-roots
efforts," includes a discussion board and a section to submit "your
failure feedback." Forthcoming are "resources for the mind, body,
money and relationships" and a list of jobs to help those who want to
jump back into the fray.

Hall is aiming more for the seasoned dot-com crowd of movers and
shakers ("executives, founders and management in start-ups that have
recently failed"), rather than recent grads or others who have jumped
in only to find the pool is quite empty.

And although startupfailures.com is conceived as a business (the site
is currently looking for sponsorships), Hall isn't gunning for an
IPO. "I intend the site to be more like Craigslist.org than
Geocities.com," says Hall. While he's posted an ad for a
writer/editor and is building a team of "coaches," the site will be
less of a bloodthirsty start-up and more a "philanthropic for-profit"
site. "I don't have any ambitions of raising money to grow the
community. As the word gets out, the practicality of the site
improves, the members will come. I know that there are millions of us
out there."

What happens if startupfailures.com, well, fails? "Wouldn't that be
ironic," Hall says. But, he adds, "[i]f our site helps one
entrepreneur to bounce back, I will consider it a success."
salon.com | May 9, 2000


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